Player Watch #32: Tom Sparrow – in until 2026

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Honestly didn't notice him until the last quarter, was he thrown into the centre in the last? he looked really impressive in there, reckon he's just being lost in whatever role he's been given, thrived when given some minutes in the guts.
 
Honestly didn't notice him until the last quarter, was he thrown into the centre in the last? he looked really impressive in there, reckon he's just being lost in whatever role he's been given, thrived when given some minutes in the guts.
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Who would have thought playing a bloke in his natural position would net a positive result.
 
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Honestly didn't notice him until the last quarter, was he thrown into the centre in the last? he looked really impressive in there, reckon he's just being lost in whatever role he's been given, thrived when given some minutes in the guts.
I noticed him early in the game he laid a tackle definitely looked more involved. He seem to get more confident as the game went on. Only criticism was he won a clearance just after trac in the last and did a sky bomb, he might have been a bit more under the pump but after trac nailed that pass to jvr it wasn't great.
 
This aged well. Time to wake up. One of our best today.
LOL bloke had his stock standard one good game every 15 games.

It's like when he kicked 3 against the Northern Bullants this pre season and you blew a load only for him to spud it up against Sydney and the doggies.

I'll hold judgement until I see consistency of form right up until September.
 
7 games into his 6th season and I think he’s pretty symptomatic of the selection issues we’ve had in the past few years. Averages 15 touches a game and has 3 goals in 7 games. Doesn’t do a ton defensively like ANB does, doesn’t assist much and doesn’t play a defensive role on an oppo player.

The two year deal we gave him is still weird, I’m pretty sure if we hadn’t let Bedford go and had Sparrow in his place we’d be totally fine. We are playing four inside mids (Trac Oliver Viney Sparrow) when you only really need two and I’ve got no faith this guy would see a significant uptick in form if he had more responsibility.
 

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7 games into his 6th season and I think he’s pretty symptomatic of the selection issues we’ve had in the past few years. Averages 15 touches a game and has 3 goals in 7 games. Doesn’t do a ton defensively like ANB does, doesn’t assist much and doesn’t play a defensive role on an oppo player.

The two year deal we gave him is still weird, I’m pretty sure if we hadn’t let Bedford go and had Sparrow in his place we’d be totally fine. We are playing four inside mids (Trac Oliver Viney Sparrow) when you only really need two and I’ve got no faith this guy would see a significant uptick in form if he had more responsibility.

The combination of Sparrow's recent middling form, Oliver's injury, and Sestan, Brown and Tholstrup all being reasonably viable options is pretty disappointing from the selection committee.
 
The combination of Sparrow's recent middling form, Oliver's injury, and Sestan, Brown and Tholstrup all being reasonably viable options is pretty disappointing from the selection committee.

Yep, I get they probably don’t want to go ‘too’ young but I’m not sure we can tolerate form like this from Sparrow if we are actually trying to have selection integrity. I get they’re backing Oliver because he’s a star player but what has Sparrow done to earn so much good will?
 
Yep, I get they probably don’t want to go ‘too’ young but I’m not sure we can tolerate form like this from Sparrow if we are actually trying to have selection integrity. I get they’re backing Oliver because he’s a star player but what has Sparrow done to earn so much good will?

I was actually thinking more about your point about Sparrow being better when given more opportunity. It was staring the selectors in the face that the right move should have been getting Clarry right early on, play Sparrow in the midfield more as one of those 'primary' 3 mids, and bring in one of those youngsters to play that Sparrow mid/forward role.

Given Clarry's injury, Sparrow's form, all 3 youngsters worth a shot, and our midfield struggling it just all made perfect sense. Then you've got 2-3 games while Clarry gets right to have a look at all that stuff before you settle in for the second half of the year as Goody seems to like to do with selection.
 
We've got a lot of young players in the team already, I don't think swapping Sparrow for Sestan is going to make much difference to our performance.

He was garbage last week but he is what he is - a role player.

Agree he is what he is, I don't judge him too harshly in that context - However, my suggestion was taking Oliver out to get his finger right, putting Sparrow full time in the middle, and bringing in Sestan (or Brown or Tholstrup) to have a crack at Sparrow's usual role.

Would have potentially killed a few birds with one stone.
 
What's his role??
By role player I mean he's in the bottom third of the player's picked every week - ie not one of the better players but is seemingly quite coachable and can follow instructions for the betterment of the team.

I think it's clear what role he has - he rotates through the midfield and half forward, sometimes getting centre bounce time depending on the situation. Runs hard, puts pressure on, wins contests forward of the ball (hypothetically).

Whether he's good at it or not is another question. When he's playing well he's actually quite strong and effective in the contest, good overhead and a nice long kick. When he's playing badly he is slow of mind, fumbly and picks the wrong option going forward.

He's not having a great year and is pissing me off more than usual but I don't think his form is really the source of the team's problems
 
By role player I mean he's in the bottom third of the player's picked every week - ie not one of the better players but is seemingly quite coachable and can follow instructions for the betterment of the team.

I think it's clear what role he has - he rotates through the midfield and half forward, sometimes getting centre bounce time depending on the situation. Runs hard, puts pressure on, wins contests forward of the ball (hypothetically).

Whether he's good at it or not is another question. When he's playing well he's actually quite strong and effective in the contest, good overhead and a nice long kick. When he's playing badly he is slow of mind, fumbly and picks the wrong option going forward.

He's not having a great year and is pissing me off more than usual but I don't think his form is really the source of the team's problems

I’m not saying he’s the source though, he’s just an example of how we are still too stagnant with team structure.
 
I'll say one thing, he's a bloody decent shot on goal, can kick it 50+ off a step too, no idea why he hasn't been given a more offensive role, or has he? I don't know, just a bit of a wasted player atm.
 
Not any more than a bog average player.

Expectations for this bloke has been lowered. A lot. Some were even considering him an option for future captain. Maybe Goody needs to come out and explain his role each week, because I really have no idea wtf he does. Defensive role across our half forward line? He might be doing better than what I can see, but his position shouldn't be a lock each week tbh. Sestan might be a better option soon.
 

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Player Watch #32: Tom Sparrow – in until 2026

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